PetroPlot: A plotting and data management tool set for Microsoft Excel

PetroPlot is a 4000-line software code written in Visual Basic for the spreadsheet program Excel that automates plotting and data management tasks for large amount of data. The major plotting functions include: automation of large numbers of multiseries XY plots; normalized diagrams (e.g., spider diagrams); replotting of any complex formatted diagram with multiple series for any other axis parameters; addition of customized labels for individual data points; and labeling flexible log scale axes. Other functions include: assignment of groups for samples based on multiple customized criteria; removal of nonnumeric values; calculation of averages/standard deviations; calculation of correlation matrices; deletion of nonconsecutive rows; and compilation of multiple rows of data for a single sample to single rows appropriate for plotting. A cubic spline function permits curve fitting to complex time series, and comparison of data to the fits. For users of Excel, PetroPlot increases efficiency of data manipulation and visualization by orders of magnitude and allows exploration of large data sets that would not be possible making plots individually. The source codes are open to all users

Modulation of Drug Metabolism by Food Restiction

The effects of the level and duration of feed restriction on the in vitro activities of hepatic drug metabolizing enzyme system were examined in male weanling Sprague Dawley rats fed ad libitum or feed restricted at 15%, 30% and 45% for a period of one to five weeks (Experiment I). Increasing levels and duration of feed restriction resulted in significant progressive increases in hepatic microsomal protein, cytochrome P-450 content and the in vitro activities of microsomal aniline hydroxylase. p-chloro-methly-aniline(PCMA)N- demethylase and p-nitrophenol UDP-glucuronyl transferase activities were unaltered by the feed restriction while cytochrome c reductase activity was significantly decreased. In addition, the in vitro activities of the hepatic NADPH-generating enzymes were also significantly increased with the increasing levels and duration of feed restriction. It is concluded that the drug metabolizing enzymes did not necessarily change in concert with the cytochrome P-450 content and that prolonged feed restriction in healthy animals resulted in enhanced drug metabolizing capacity. This enhancement in drug metabolizing capacity was progressive with the increasing levels and duration of feed restriction. The greatest enhancement was observed when the animals were restricted at 45% for 4 or 5 weeks. In two subsequent experiments, the in vivo metabolism of antipyrine and carbon tetrachloride toxicity were examined in rats feed restricted at 45% for four weeks. The feed restriction resulted in a significant decrease in the blood half-life of antipyrine and increased morbidity due to carbon tetrachloride. Thus feed restriction resulted in increased in vivo metabolism of xenobiotics and 45% feed restriction for four weeks was sufficient to cause a significant increase. These results supported the changes observed in the in vitro activities of the drug metabolizing system

Wide Field-of-View Testbed: Challenges Scaling from SmallSats to Large Satellites

Can experience gained from designing, building and launching a smallsat be successfully leveraged to build larger satellites? Following the success of building smallsats, Millennium Space Systems was awarded a contract to develop the Wide-Field-of-View (WFOV) Testbed for the U.S. Space Force\u27s Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC). This paper describes how challenges faced scaling from a smallsat to a larger-sized satellite were overcome. Topics include paradigm shifts in design and testing as well as unique programmatic approaches to enable rapid acquisition and development

ACUTE PSYCHOSOCIAL STRESS DOES NOT INCREASE DYSFUNCTIONAL ATTITUDES

Introduction: Dysfunctional attitudes about oneself, the world and the future, measured quantitatively by Weissman’s Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale (DAS), are thought to influence the onset and persistence of major depressive disorder. However, never-depressed individuals may also harbour latent negative schema which may become activated under stressful conditions, giving rise to dysfunctional negative cognitions. Objectives: This study investigated whether everyday psychosocial stresses could be sufficient to activate dysfunctional selfschema and increase negative cognitions in a large group of healthy adolescents and a preliminary cohort of previously depressed adolescents. Methods: 92 never-depressed adolescents aged 17-19 and 18 previously depressed adolescents, recruited from the Cambridge ROOTS cohort, took either version A or B of the DAS at rest on day 1. On day 2, they were subjected to the Trier Social Stress Test, a psychosocial stress paradigm, 22 minutes after which they took the other version of DAS. Results: Stress did not affect the DAS score in either group. Conclusions: Brief psychosocial stress does not appear to influence negative assumptions in healthy young adults with or without a past history of depression. It is possible that this is because dysfunctional assumptions, unlike self-schemas, are not latent. More long-term stresses may be needed to activate negative thoughts to a level where risk of depression is increased

Late presentation of a paranasal sinus glass foreign body: a case report

Foreign bodies in the paranasal sinuses are rare and mostly related to maxillo-facial trauma. We treated a 47-year-old man with a late complication arising from a foreign body in the nasoethmoid sinus present for 16 years after a road traffic accident. Patients presenting with maxillo-facial injuries, especially those with lacerations due to glass or car wind-screen trauma should have thorough examination and appropriate imaging of the injury

Herschel Observations and Updated Spectral Energy Distributions of Five Sunlike Stars with Debris Disks

Observations from the Herschel Space Observatory have more than doubled the number of wide debris disks orbiting Sunlike stars to include over 30 systems with R > 100 AU. Here we present new Herschel PACS and re-analyzed Spitzer MIPS photometry of five Sunlike stars with wide debris disks, from Kuiper belt size to R > 150 AU. The disk surrounding HD 105211 is well resolved, with an angular extent of >14" along the major axis, and the disks of HD 33636, HD 50554, and HD 52265 are extended beyond the PACS PSF size (50% of energy enclosed within radius 4.23"). HD 105211 also has a 24-micron infrared excess that was previously overlooked because of a poorly constrained photospheric model. Archival Spitzer IRS observations indicate that the disks have small grains of minimum radius ~3 microns, though the minimum grain gradius is larger than the radiation pressure blowout size in all systems. If modeled as single-temperature blackbodies, the disk temperatures would all be <60 K. Our radiative transfer models predict actual disk radii approximately twice the radius of model blackbody disks. We find that the Herschel photometry traces dust near the source population of planetesimals. The disk luminosities are in the range 0.00002 <= L/L* <= 0.0002, consistent with collisions in icy planetesimal belts stirred by Pluto-size dwarf planets.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 18 pages, including 10 figures and 3 table